Job Description

At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections, where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.

The Position

In Roche’s Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development organisation (pRED), we make transformative medicines for patients to tackle some of the world’s toughest unmet healthcare needs. At pRED, we are united by our mission to transform science into medicines. Together, we create a culture defined by curiosity, responsibility, and humility, where our talented people are empowered and inspired to bring forward extraordinary, life-changing innovation at speed.

At the intersection of science and innovation, pRED’s Pharmaceutical Sciences (PS) organisation enables the discovery and development of safe and effective therapeutics at optimal doses in relevant populations with a vision to power translation, continuously improve the accuracy of our predictions and accelerate the development of tomorrow's medicines. By seamlessly integrating our three core pillars—Translational Safety, Translational Pharmacology, and Biomarkers—we drive end-to-end asset development across the entire value chain, from target assessment to on-market support. Our mission is to continuously improve predictive accuracy, optimise dosing strategies for the right patient populations, and accelerate the development of tomorrow's safe and effective therapeutics.

This position is located in Pathology and Applied Safety Science, a department within the Pharmaceutical Sciences function. We drive the non-clinical safety assessment of drug candidates from small molecules to complex biological products during the discovery and development phases at Roche.

The Opportunity

As an engaged Junior Investigative Toxicology Scientist within our Pathology and Applied Safety Science department, you will play a pivotal role in the development, validation, and implementation of nonclinical assays for translational safety assessment. Your primary responsibility will be to propose, conduct, and report investigative toxicology experiments to understand mechanisms of toxicity and predict toxicity liabilities of early drug series. Leveraging modern tools to maximise scientific insights and drive innovation, you will support the development of in vitro predictive safety models and remain accountable for the scientific delivery of modern toxicology assays to inform risk assessment across projects ranging from small molecules to complex biological products. The Junior Investigative Toxicology Scientist is primarily a wet lab-focused position with the majority of time dedicated to hands-on experimental work in the lab.

• Scientific Strategy & In Vitro Model Development: Design, develop, optimise, and perform in vitro toxicology assays, including advanced 2D and 3D human cell models, to support translational safety assessment and predict toxicity liabilities of early drug candidates.

• Advanced Analytical Workflows & High-Content Imaging: Drive proficiency in state-of-the-art analytical methods (including high-content screening, confocal imaging platforms, and next-generation sequencing) while building, deploying, and maintaining custom image analysis tools and automated pipelines to extract metrics from complex cellular setups, collaborating closely with digital engineering, bioinformatics, and digital pathology teams to scale cell data into accessible project arrays.

• Data Curation, Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), & Reporting: Conduct rigorous data analysis, critical procedure evaluations, and proper internal reporting of study phase data within the LIMS, acting as a lead presenter to deliver concise, actionable interpretations of outcomes to project teams, toxicologists, and portfolio stakeholders while compiling study records to ensure absolute traceability, raw data folder maintenance, and global compliance archiving.

• Quality, Compliance, & Safety Leadership: Ensure strict operational compliance with existing work instructions, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and experimental protocols, while maintaining absolute knowledge of and compliance with relevant Safety, Health, and Environmental (SHE) regulations, championing mindful handling and ethical usage of materials from animal or human origin.

• Matrix Collaboration & Resource Optimisation: Demonstrate exceptional interpersonal skills and matrix flexibility to seamlessly connect scientific project panels with wet-lab experts and digital squads across Pharmaceutical Sciences, while proactively engaging with internal peers and stakeholders to negotiate, prioritise, and align laboratory work schedules and resource flows to meet critical project milestones.

• Vendor & Platform Engagement & Continuous Improvement: Establish and maintain professional relationships with external vendors, technology networks, and collaborators to continuously assess and onboard next-generation laboratory methodologies, while cultivating an agile culture focused on process optimisation to permanently elevate baseline quality, reproducibility, and efficiency standards across the department.

Who You Are

• You hold a Master’s degree and a PhD in an immunology-related field, with a dedicated specialisation in modelling tissue-relevant human immunology in vitro.

• You bring a minimum of 2 years of postdoctoral experience within an academic laboratory or a pharmaceutical environment, backed by a proven scientific track record of publications in peer-reviewed journals.

• You have a sound understanding of 2D and 3D in vitro model development (such as organoids, organs on chips, etc.), including the development of immune-competent co-culture models, alongside a high proficiency in state-of-the-art analytical tools, including high-content imaging, confocal imaging, and transcriptomics technologies (scRNA -seq, spatial transcriptomics).

• You demonstrate outstanding interpersonal and team skills, seamlessly collaborating across cross-functional groups to bridge the gap between complex science and organisational goals.

• You show excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, with a natural capability to manage project expectations, adapt to evolving priorities, and articulate complex data clearly to any audience.

At Roche, we aim high to deliver life-changing healthcare solutions. If you’re ready to make a meaningful impact on patients and healthcare systems worldwide, this is the place for you.

Who we are

A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.

Let’s build a healthier future, together.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.